Worship Weblog
Friday, October 27, 2006
Reflections on “counsel” and “tree” in Psalm 1
As we reflected on Psalm 1 in staff meeting this week (by singing SNC #85), I was struck by how weak the English word “advice” is in the first verse. (I’m persuaded that the NRSV is generally the
best available English translation of the Bible, but no translation is perfect.)
Advice is worth two cents—at least, that’s what an honest person will tell you when offering her advice: “This is just my two cents, but if you want my advice…” “Counsel” is a weightier word, although a little dated (as is the phrase “walk in the counsel,” which was used by the KJV translators, following the lead of Wycliffe’s “yede [goes] not in the councel of wickid men”). “Counsel” might capture a little more of the Hebrew word etsah (“counsel, advice, purpose”). Etsah seems like more of an deliberate strategy, a detailed plan, not casually-dispensed opinion or an answer from Ann Landers. Etsah is the word used for “plan” in the first verse of Isaiah 30:
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